JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Richard Dawkins reviews God Is Not Great in the Times Literary Supplement.

“There is much fluttering in the dovecots of the deluded, and Christopher Hitchens is one of those responsible. Another is the philosopher A. C. Grayling. I recently shared a platform with both. We were to debate against a trio of, as it turned out, rather half-hearted religious apologists (“Of course I don’t believe in a God with a long white beard, but…”). I hadn’t met Hitchens before, but I got an idea of what to expect when Grayling emailed me to discuss tactics. After proposing a couple of lines for himself and
me, he concluded, “and Hitch will spray AK47 ammo at the enemy in characteristic style”…

Elsewhere: Incroyable! England storms into Rugby World Cup final on Jonny Wilkinson’s boot. And Stephen Colbert writes Maureen Dowd’s column in the New York Times.

Tiangge. Photo by Uro de la Cruz, originally uploaded by Koosama.

“A recent paper by the law professors Kal Raustiala and Christopher Sprigman suggests that weak intellectual-property rules, far from hurting the fashion industry, have instead been integral to its success. The professors call this effect “the piracy paradox.”

“The paradox stems from the basic dilemma that underpins the economics of fashion: for the industry to keep growing, customers must like this year’s designs, but they must also become dissatisfied with them, so that they’ll buy next year’s. Many other consumer businesses face a similar problem, but fashion—unlike, say, the technology industry—can’t rely on improvements in power and performance to make old products obsolete. Raustiala and Sprigman argue persuasively that, in fashion, it’s copying that serves this function, bringing about what they call “induced obsolescence.” Copying enables designs and styles to move quickly from early adopters to the masses. And since no one cool wants to keep wearing something after everybody else is wearing it, the copying of designs helps fuel the incessant demand for something new.”

The Piracy Paradox by James Surowiecki.

koosi in carrier.JPG, originally uploaded by 160507.

Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Best known for The Golden Notebook, Lessing also wrote stories about cats: Particularly Cats and Rufus the Survivor, and The Old Age of El Magnifico. Here’s a bit from Rufus.

“Events did cast their shadow, months before. All that spring and summer, as I went past on the pavement, a shabby orange-coloured cat would emerge from under a car or from a front garden, and he stood looking intently up at me, not to be ignored. He wanted something, but what? Cats on pavements, cats on garden walls, or coming towards you from doorways, stretch and wave their tails, they greet you, walk a few steps with you. They want companionship or, if they are shut out by heartless owners, as they often are all day or all night, they appeal for help with the loud insistent demanding miaow that means they are hungry or thirsty or cold. A cat winding around your legs at a street corner might be wondering if he can exchange a poor home for a better one. . .”

The final visit to Bienvenido Santos, writer. With guest appearances by Ruth Roa, Tina Cuyugan, Ambeth Ocampo, RayVi Sunico, Danton Remoto, the fabulous Gilda Cordero-Fernando, and the cruddiest car that ever crawled the streets of Manila. Emotional Weather Report, today in The Philippine Star.

This is for Scrat, reduced to a zombie state by the shock loss of the New Zealand All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup.

Great—another four years of self-flagellation.

I know it’s been your dream to see them play in the flesh. You even got tickets to the final way in advance. Why compound the trauma of your heroes’ loss by watching two other teams fight for the title? Give me the tickets, I’ll go to France. It’s the least I can do as a friend.

Unmentionables, originally uploaded by 160507.

Here’s one for my bag-addict friends. The Tighty Whitey Bag: a tote bag that looks like big men’s briefs. More emasculating than carrying your girlfriend’s handbag! (Unless that’s your thing, in which case, enjoy.) It’s like she turned your underwear into a bag! Go ahead and speculate on what’s in it. Thanks for the gift cheques, David & Goliath.